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Antonella Artuso, Queen's Park Bureau Chief

Apr 9, 2014

, Last Updated: 9:56 AM ET

TORONTO — The Ontario College of Trades celebrated its first anniversary Tuesday mired in the controversy that has dogged the oversight agency from the start.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak — flanked by representatives of Ontario automobile dealers and home builders — condemned the OCT as a job killer and vowed to scrap it if voters ever choose him as their premier.

"The College of Trades is a wall between new Canadians and young people getting a new job," Hudak insisted. "I'll tear down that wall."

Premier Kathleen Wynne defended the embattled OCT, saying rather than stand in the way of someone obtaining a skilled trade, it sets up a professional framework for those jobs.

"What the College of Trades is about ... is making sure that people in the skilled trades ... have decision-making power over what matters to them," she said. "That is the professionalism that we have wanted to put in place."

David Tsubouchi, a former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister and the OCT registrar, argued the college brings balance to the interests of employers and trades people, countering claims from Hudak that it hands tighter control to unions over who works in the industry.